“The most beautiful people we have known are those who have known defeat, known suffering, known struggle, known loss, and have found their way out of those depths.” Elisabeth Kubler-Ross

Motivation Mondays: STRUGGLE

Love, Dad (Short Film)

Strength and growth come only through continuous effort and struggle. Napoleon Hill
Human progress is neither automatic nor inevitable… Every step toward the goal of justice requires sacrifice, suffering, and struggle; the tireless exertions and passionate concern of dedicated individuals. Martin Luther King, Jr.
The battle of life is, in most cases, fought uphill; and to win it without a struggle were perhaps to win it without honor. If there were no difficulties there would be no success; if there were nothing to struggle for, there would be nothing to be achieved. Samuel Smiles

When you think of the word – STRUGGLE – what comes to mind? All of life entails some struggle and the only way around it is to get up and keep moving forward. The struggles we experience in life fire our passion, sharpen our ambition and build our motivation to overcome our obstacles. Struggle is a heavy word and it brings back memories for a lot of people; both good and bad. I have had my share of it on many levels and this post was a way to revisit the subject and show how it can help fire the imagination and give us a sense of gratitude about our lives. In poor countries, people learn to be inventive because of the enormous challenges and struggles they face. So, it has both its innovative/bright side and its enervating/dark side. I started the post with a lot of ideas about the nature of struggle and how it helps us grow, heal and become more compassionate. I added my quotes and stories, and wrote part of the first paragraph and it took on a life of its own. COME BACK LATER FOR MORE!

A Story: From Struggle to Success
Once upon a time, a daughter complained to her father that her life was miserable and that she didn’t know how she was going to make it. She was tired of fighting and struggling all the time. It seemed just as one problem was solved, another one soon followed. Her father, a chef, took her to the kitchen. He filled three pots with water and placed each on a high fire.
Once the three pots began to boil, he placed potatoes in one pot, eggs in the second pot and ground coffee beans in the third pot. He then let them sit and boil, without saying a word to his daughter. The daughter moaned and impatiently waited, wondering what he was doing. After twenty minutes he turned off the burners. He took the potatoes out of the pot and placed them in a bowl. He pulled the eggs out and placed them in a bowl. He then ladled the coffee out and placed it in a cup.
Turning to her, he asked. “Daughter, what do you see?” “Potatoes, eggs and coffee,” she hastily replied.
“Look closer”, he said, “and touch the potatoes.” She did and noted that they were soft.
He then asked her to take an egg and break it. After pulling off the shell, she observed the hard-boiled egg.
Finally, he asked her to sip the coffee. Its rich aroma brought a smile to her face.
“Father, what does this mean?” she asked.
He then explained that the potatoes, the eggs and coffee beans had each faced the same adversity-the boiling water. However, each one reacted differently. The potato went in strong, hard and unrelenting, but in boiling water, it became soft and weak. The egg was fragile, with the thin outer shell protecting its liquid interior until it was put in the boiling water. Then the inside of the egg became hard. However, the ground coffee beans were unique. After they were exposed to the boiling water, they changed the water and created something new.
“Which one are you?” he asked his daughter. “When adversity knocks on your door, how do you respond? Are you a potato, an egg, or a coffee bean?”
Moral: In life, things happen around us, things happen to us, but the only thing that truly matters is how you choose to react to it and what you make out of it. Life is all about leaning, adopting and converting all the struggles that we experience into something positive. Via MoralStories.org

“Where there is no struggle, there is no strength.” Oprah Winfrey

Motivation Mondays: STRUGGLE

Don’t feel entitled to anything you didn’t sweat and struggle for. Marian Wright Edelman
Without struggle, no progress and no result. Every breaking of habit produces a change in the machine. George Gurdjieff
A journey is a person in itself; no two are alike. And all plans, safeguards, policing, and coercion are fruitless. We find that after years of struggle that we do not take a trip; a trip takes us. John Steinbeck
All life demands struggle. Those who have everything given to them become lazy, selfish, and insensitive to the real values of life. The very striving and hard work that we so constantly try to avoid is the major building block in the person we are today. Pope Paul VI

What type of Struggle have you faced? While I am not an advocate for “no pain no gain,” I believe that struggling to accomplish any type of goal makes us stronger, wiser and, hopefully, more considerate of others who are going through the same experiences. Of course that is not entirely true because I have seen people in the workplace who fought to get to their position, who then work hard to make sure no one else gets there. It is truly a misguided way of thinking. Great bosses are those who want their employees to rise to the top and become better at their job. When you work for an insecure boss, they spend more time nitpicking and creating havoc for their staff. A great boss should always work with integrity and compassion because all eyes are in that person. Even if you are not in a position of authority, you can mentor others by voluntering and offering a helping hand in your community.

A Story: Make Friends with Your Mind & Struggle
Once Buddha was walking from one town to another town with a few of his followers. This was in the initial days. While they were traveling, they happened to pass a lake. They stopped there and Buddha told one of his disciples, “I am thirsty. Please get me some water from that lake there”.
The disciple walked up to the lake. When he reached it, he noticed that some people were washing clothes in the water and, right at that moment, a bullock cart started crossing the lake right at the edge of it. As a result, the water became very muddy, very turbid. The disciple thought, “How can I give this muddy water to Buddha to drink?!” So he came back and told the Buddha, “The water in there is very muddy. I don’t think it is fit to drink”.
So, the Buddha said, let us take a little rest here by the tree. After about half an hour, again Buddha asked the same disciple to go back to the lake and get him some water to drink. The disciple obediently went back to the lake. This time he found that the lake had absolutely clear water in it. The mud had settled down and the water above it looked fit to be had. So he collected some water in a pot and brought it to the Buddha.
The Buddha looked at the water, and then he looked up at the disciple and said, “See, You let the water be and the mud settled down on its own. You got a clear water. It didn’t require any effort”. Anon Zen Stories

The details for Motivation Mondays are below. Join in! The themes for July/August 2017 are:

More Below!“Always remember that striving and struggle precede success, even in the dictionary.” Sarah Ban Breathnach

Motivation Mondays: STRUGGLE

Our duty is to encourage every one in his struggle to live up to his own highest idea, and strive at the same time to make the ideal as near as possible to the Truth. Swami Vivekananda
Nothing is given to man on earth – struggle is built into the nature of life, and conflict is possible – the hero is the man who lets no obstacle prevent him from pursuing the values he has chosen. Andrew Bernstein
A lot of what is most beautiful about the world arises from struggle. Malcolm Gladwell
The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself. Friedrich Nietzsche

Why must we remain vigilant once we have overcome a challenge? Old and bad habits die hard. Whether our struggle is weight loss, financial recovery, drug abuse, health or work issues or any multitude of challenges people face daily, we must stay vigilant once we have overcome the struggle by maintaining a rigorous and disciplined life that helps us support our achievement. If we had kept the company of people who led us astray, we need to move away from such connections and encourage them to seek help. If we had created our own bad habits or distractions that stood in our way, we need to pay attention and check in regularly with positive affirmations, renewed vigor and new goals. To work towards better, demands that we place clear boundaries on what we do. Stay focused and do the heavy lifting required. Treat yourself to something good and healthy and press on. Never ever look at others as competition. Focus on your own game and work at being the best at it.

A Story: Grace and The Water Bearer
A water bearer in India had two large pots, each hung on each end of a pole which he carried across his neck. One of the pots had a crack in it, and while the other pot was perfect and always delivered a full portion of water at the end of the long walk from the stream to the master’s house, the cracked pot arrived only half full.
For a full two years this went on daily, with the bearer delivering only one and a half pots full of water to his master’s house. Of course, the perfect pot was proud of its accomplishments, perfect to the end for which it was made. But the cracked pot was ashamed of its own imperfection, and miserable that it was able to accomplish only half of what it had been made to do. After two years of what it perceived to be a bitter failure, it spoke to the water bearer one day by the stream. “I am ashamed of myself, and I want to apologize to you.” “Why?” asked the bearer. “What are you ashamed of?” “I have been able, for these past two years, to deliver only half my load because this crack in my side causes water to leak out all the way back to your master’s house. Because of my flaws, you have to do all of this work, and you don’t get full value from your efforts,” the pot said.
The water bearer’s heart went out to the old cracked pot, and in his compassion he said, “As we return to the master’s house, I want you to notice the beautiful flowers along the path.” Indeed, as they went up the hill, the old cracked pot took notice of the sun warming the beautiful wild flowers on the side of the path, and this cheered it some. But at the end of the trail, it still felt sad because it had leaked out half its load, and so again it apologized to the bearer for its failure.
The water bearer said to the pot, “Did you notice that there were flowers only on your side of the path, but not on the other pot’s side? That’s because I have always known about your flaw, and I took advantage of it. I planted flower seeds on your side of the path, and every day while we walk back from the stream, you’ve watered them. For two years I have been able to pick these beautiful flowers to decorate my master’s table. Without you being just the way you are, he would not have this beauty to grace his house.” Anon via: GoodWeb

Have a Happy, Healthy 2017!

Positive Motivation Tip: All of life entails struggle, embrace and make friends with yours.

Motivation Mondays is open to anyone who wishes to share a motivational quote, photo, personal challenge or a post that encourages others to start the week on an upbeat note.Basic Instructions: Each week, I will have a motivation word to help us create a response. (See listed words for the months above/below)Email address: You may email or share your post as a comment and I will add it to the round-up of related posts. email it to: contact(@)mirthandmotivation(.)comCategory tag: – Share your post using Motivation MondaysTwitter hashtag: – Use this on Twitter #MotvnMDedicated Page: There is a dedicated page for Motivation Mondays. It has the same instructions and will include other helpful tools and a link to the round-upFacebook Page:MotivationOnMondays Join our page and add your post and/or any motivational piece you think will be helpful to others.Facebook Community: We have a Facebook community forum to compliment the page. It serves as another way to share uplifting posts and thoughts. Please join in and add your voice.

Badge: – I created a fun badge using PicMonkey’s free photo editing tools. You can create your own, use WordPress’ integrated tool on your blog or you are welcome to use mine. (see dedicated page)Tag: – Motivation MondaysHashtag: – #MotvnM

I really enjoyed the story about the leaking pot. the father and daughter lesson has been a long favourite and I even posted it on my own blog. this effort is a great idea. Mondays need a little extra care

Excellent post. The last few years have been a complete struggle, and though it feels like it’s never going to end, I know it will. I also recently realized that I’m always waiting for something to happen so that I can really live and be happy…but it hit me…this IS life. This is living. It’s never going to be easy. Just have to be happy here and now, even in the struggle.

Thanks for this thought provoking post, Elizabeth. It seems all my life is one big struggle, but I am not complaining. I know it is so because I am being prepared for something better. Like a famous Chinese proverb – “No mud, No lotus.”

Dealing with struggle was something I had issues with throughout my life! I always thought that it was what made me incapable when in reality, it is just an everyday process in life. Thanks for sharing such an informational post!

I really love the story about the potato, the egg and the coffee beans. This is a story I will tell many! I guess I would be like the coffee beans after a challenge in life. I would look first tiny and small but afterwards I would become something else. A better person after each obstacle.

I really like your post.. I absolutely agree with you…how one reacts to things that happen, defines him. I am trying to live a meaningful life learning from the struggles. Thanks for sharing this beautiful stories and thoughts.

Beautiful, sad and life affirming all at the same time Elizabeth <3 I've heard the broken pot story many times before, and every time I hear it, I get goosebumps. It's our cracks and imperfections and struggles that make us all so unique

Great post as always. Struggle is something I am very familiar with having always struggled with my own mental health, the death of my son and consequent breakdown of my marriage, and our struggle to have children in my second marriage. Struggle makes us who we are, I am grateful for mine.

There is so much truth to that saying, “that which doesn’t kill you, makes you stronger!” I’ve been through some adversity (it was difficult at the time), but once I had dealt with it, i was more equipped to help others.

“Without struggle, we all would be weak” That’s what my father used to tell me since I was a child. I couldn’t really understand it back then, but now I see it. There’s always an opportunity in every Struggle we have. It grows us! Thank you so much for this post!

It’s so easy to get bogged down and feel overwhelmed when life knocks you down. Sometimes you have to take a step back and regroup, meditate on all the good things in your life and prepare yourself to tackle your next goal!

This is a beautiful post! Struggling with anything at all is often times hard and we feel like our world is falling apart. But the beauty of it is that struggles make us the very being that we are today. I know they have personally made me stronger. Thank you for posting this and thank you for those reading suggestions! I will be checking them out!

What a beautiful analogy of the coffee beans, eggs and potato.Next time that I am struggling I would like to think of myself of the coffee beans which brand someone new to the table. Learning to not give up is often one of life’s most difficult lessons but for me I like to keep on fighting x

I really Iike all three stories you used to illustrate your point about struggles. They’re all helpful reminders that we all go through struggles & even if we don’t always see it, there is a reason for them.

I agree with the moral of your story. We are the only ones who chose how a situation will make us feel. We can choose to be weak, we can choose to ignore it, we can choose to solve it later. But it’s not about how the problem makes us feel, it’s how we choose to let it or not affect us

Everyone’s struggle is so different. Sometimes one is fighting the outside demons and sometimes demons are in our mind. But like your first story’s moral – it is our attitude towards those struggles and the lessons learnt from them is what defines us.

We all go through some kind of struggles in life, some learn from it and come out stronger and some adapt to their situations and learn new ways of living life to the fullest. Eitherways, struggles make you stronger. Thanks for sharing this post and motivating for this week’s struggles! 🙂

I have a lot of struggles in my life. I born as a simple and ordinary person and we are not a rich. And now i have 2 kids and i have 4 siblings to take care of because our mother left us for work. But still, i still dont give up because i need to be strong for them.

Very good symbol for a struggle. It is not just an uphill climb, but pushing a load uphill is more of a struggle. We all have our struggles in life, but with a positive attitude these become learning experiences.

My son was an addict from the time he was 15 until around the age of 22. Those years were a true hell (for both of us, really). In the dark of night, I couldn’t help but feel angry. Angry at him, angry that this was our family’s experience, angry that I couldn’t fix it no matter how hard I tried. It all changed one day sitting on my grandmother’s porch. She said “You know, God can’t use those he hasn’t tested. He needs to know you can cut it when the going gets tough. Sweetheart, I have a feeling he’s prepping you one heck of a mission” I’ve never thought of struggle in the same way since. x

History is defined and designed by those who struggle and persevere to bring a change. You article reminded me of a saying by Gandhi, ” Be the change that you want to bring in this world.” An inspiring read indeed

Loved the story about the boiling water. I think I’m the potato.. I always go into things motivated and strong, but I lose the motivation and get anxious very quickly… it’s an ongoing issue that keeps me in a quitting loop. :/

Struggling is certainly something we all face in a way or another. There are so many moments and occasions where I struggle. I’m not sure if I struggle more than before but in a different situations and different ways as well.

Struggle is definitely something we all go through. When I read your post it reminded me of a lesson I was teaching my kid (which is a passed down lesson from my Dad) that everything new thing I try there will always be a struggle but the key thing is the positive attitude to face it and to try my best.

What a lovely post! Struggle is certainly an integral part of success. No pain. No gain. I loved the quote by Elisabeth Kubler-Ross. Make Friends with Your Mind & Struggle story is so valid and inspiring.

I love these stories. I know all too well the struggles of business and life in general. Though I realise that not everyone can see the pain that I have been through; this also means that others go through their own pain and the world does not see it. We should practice kindness to all those we meet since we don’t know what they are going through.

I love your struggle to success story it hold alot of truth. nothing in my life that was worth anything was ever gained without lots of struggle to get there. Sometimes we forget that when things are hardest.

This is such a great idea! I’m pretty sure everyone feels the same about Mondays (my face in the mornings is similar to grumpy cat’s) so it’d be cool to turn that around and give it more of a positive feeling.

I like this choice of work for Motivation Mondays. It is interesting that without struggle there wouldn’t be a success. Some argue is is not true. I agree with a statement, because of the shift in perception that happens when we overcome a struggle. That moment of a victory is a meaning of success.

Honestly, when I hear the word struggle I don’t think negatively. Struggle is just a negative word for efforts you have to undergo to achieve something you want. Anyway, the stories were quite motivational. Thanks a lot!
Regards: Veethee

Some very interesting stories about struggle and difficulties. I love how these stories transform what seems like hardship into something of beauty. I really like the one about knowing the person dropping water and so planting was done on one side to take advantage of that fact.

I’m familiar with the potato, egg and coffee story and love it. However, for the Buddha one, I’m not quite sure what it meant… Meaning we should let our struggles and troubles settle on it’s own and our mind will be clear? Hope you can enlighten me~

I do agree that life would be to easy and boring without struggles. Therefore, I would not call them struggle but more challenges? Challenges that help you achieve greater things. However, some things that happen in life can be define as struggles as they are super sad, devastating or really hard to overcome

I must be one of a kind lol i absolutely love Mondays, its like a reset button and a fresh start, i also love the “Where there is no struggle, there is no strength.” Oprah Winfrey quote so much! So true and motivating!

Those were very valuable lessons in each story. I like the first one the most as it resonates more with me: We have indeed the choice when it comes to our own reaction to things that happen in our lives. Thanks for those perspectives, good lessons to pass along 🙂

Dealing with chronic pain on a constant basis often means a daily sometimes hourly struggle for myself. I try so hard to remain positive and not let it win. Some days I even fake a smile and tell others that I am ok just so they don’t have to hear about my struggle.

This sounds very much like the story of my life lately. Constantly struggling and feeling as though I’m soft and weak. Until I look back and see that I’ve changed and hardened instead. Though I struggle more so to be the coffee bean and change what’s around me instead. I love this story. And the words you shared. Its a reminder I needed greatly.

One of my recovery mantras is “The struggle is real”. As a recovering Codependent, most of my life I dismissed myself, my existence, my being. This mantra helps to validate me whenever I’m going through a tough time.

There are some people who think if they show they’re struggling, they will appear as weak in the eyes of others. So they hide it all inside.

While there are those who think that sufferance is what makes them “good people” (due to religious reasons).

I feel that neither the above two groups of people are right. Struggle is a part of life, there is nothing wrong showing others that you’re facing certain difficulty in life. Also, struggling doesn’t mean you’re more noble, because if you intentionally want to suffer, doesn’t that make you a martyr (Martyr Syndrome)?

Everybody could use a little motivation. My niece could benefit from the story between father and daughter. I love it so much. I’m copying it and placing it on designer paper and giving it to several teens I know. I also shared with my hubby and he almost cried. It reminded him how his mother gave him lessons.

Wow, I really love the quotes in this post because they’re motivational and inspirational. Every time I think of the word, “Struggle.” I don’t really think such positive words. I actually think of Pain and maybe that’s just my situation and the mindset I’m currently in. I can see now that a struggle is a way to success and it’s biblical to me. We have life long suffering on Earth for an eternity of the opposite in Heaven. Such a thought-provoking post and I really love that it changed my mind about the word, “Struggle” for Pain to Positive (Success)!

I’m glad it helped you too. Here is what I’m adding to my post: Struggle is a heavy word and it brings back memories for a lot of people; both good and bad. I have had my share of it on many levels and this post was a way to revisit the subject and show how it can help fire the imagination and give us a sense of gratitude about our lives. In poor countries, people learn to be inventive because of the enormous challenges and struggles they face. So it has both it’s innovative/bright side and its enervating/dark side. I started the post with a lot of ideas about the nature of struggle and how it helps us grow, heal and become more compassionate. I added my quotes and stories, and wrote part of the first paragraph and it took on a life of its own. I still plan to update the post.:)

What a lovely post! The struggle is certainly an integral part of success. No pain. No gain. I loved the quote by Elisabeth Kubler-Ross. Make Friends with Your Mind & Struggle story is so valid and inspiring.

When I read this on struggle what I have in mind is the challenge, the test in any form when being passed or overcome spells success. Struggle and success have “you” in common. It purports it’s you to struggle to reach your ambition or goal in life. Gil Camporazo

It seems to me that the more I struggle with something the better the result. It always feels difficult in the middle. I don’t know who said it originally but I always think to myself. “it will all be okay in the end, if it’s not okay, it’s not the end.”